CorroGuard
From front walls to rear doors and from the roofline to the road, corrosion is an ever-present enemy to trailers. At Great Dane, however, proactive engineering and trailer manufacturing with corrosion resistance in mind is addressing this costly problem.
According to the Federal Highway Administration (report FHWA-RD-01-0156), corrosion costs U.S. businesses an estimated $276 billion each year, or up to 6% of the nation’s GDP. More than $50 billion of that cost is attributed to the transportation industry and infrastructure. These sobering estimates have caused the trucking industry to make corrosion a primary focus.
Great Dane's commitment to finding ways to combat equipment deterioration associated with corrosion resulted in the introduction of CorroGuard with Technology by GatorHyde, its latest protective product to fight corrosion.
This superior trailer undercoating was developed specifically for trailer underbody protection from rock and stone impingement and chemical resistance to current de-icing chemicals and road hazards.
CorroGuard provides an effective barrier between moisture, severe temperatures, road debris, sand, gravel and de-icing materials, which can “sandblast” vehicle underbodies. Once the protective paint coatings of these underbodies are chipped, even slightly, it will expose these areas to the caustic environment of the road salts and other de-icing materials, as well as allow dirt and road debris to accumulate directly on the vulnerable substrate.
The presence of salt greatly enhances the rusting of metals, and the types of salts used to clear roadways are more powerful today. For more than 50 years, sodium chloride (rock salt) has been used for de-icing roadways. Today, more effective chemicals like magnesium chloride and calcium chloride have become popular options due to ease and speed of application, as well as being effective at lower temperatures. These chemicals are especially destructive because they cling to the underbody of a vehicle and crystallize as they slowly dry out.
These crystals are hydrophilic, meaning they adsorb moisture keeping them in a semi-solution state for extended periods of time, which multiplies their corrosiveness.
If these very corrosive materials are not thoroughly washed away often, the result can be surface rust and even more serious corrosion in the suspension and buckplate areas in the short term.
One effective weapon for fighting the elements and the equipment deterioration caused by corrosion is CorroGuard. This impact-resistant barrier is extremely durable and can withstand even today’s de-icing chemicals, as well as road debris, climate fluctuations, and ice and snow. Air tight and water tight, CorroGuard will not peel, crack, warp, flake or split under even the harshest of conditions, making it one of the most comprehensive solutions Great Dane offers to combat corrosion.
